Nintendo May Retire Game Boy Name

GameDaily is reporting on commentary from Nintendo of America's George Harrison, who essentially says the company will no longer be using the Game Boy brand. While at one point the DS was the 'third pillar' along with the Game Boy and the GameCube/Wii, the handheld has in recent years more than proven its worth. "This year in our marketing you really won't see much push against Game Boy itself, so it will kind of seek its own level. It's hard to say in the future if we will ever bring back the Game Boy trademark. It was a big risk for us to actually pass on it and call the new product the Nintendo DS, but it was part of Mr. Iwata's philosophy that if we're going to make a radical difference and try to reach a new audience, then we have to change the name ... We had to make a break even though we had one of the greatest trademarks in the history of the industry."

Comments

with this

[jimbug]

a part of my childhood just died.

Re:with this

[megamerican]

It is time you grow up and become a Game Man.

A change is nice once in a while

[riceboy50]

Every once in a while, it's nice to develop a totally new idea that doesn't leverage the same brand for eternity. It shows a willingness to innovate IMO.

Re:A change is nice once in a while

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell that the company that makes the PSone, PS2, and PS3.

Re:A change is nice once in a while

[riceboy50]

My point was that, at least to me, it shows that a company is probably more willing to innovate with their product if they are willing to step out into an entirely new name. It shows a certain level of marketing courage. Some people may not agree, that is why I said that it was my opinion. :D

Re:A change is nice once in a while

[Dogtanian]

Every once in a while, it's nice to develop a totally new idea that doesn't leverage the same brand for eternity. It shows a willingness to innovate IMO. Well, I've heard it stated or implied in more than one place that the DS wasn't a guaranteed success, and that not calling it "Game Boy" also reduced the risk to the brand. Of course, since the DS did succeed and overshadowed the Game Boy-branded devices, it has ultimately left the Game Boy brand stranded.

Personally, I wouldn't want to see the name associated with the DS anyway (as some have suggested and/or hinted that Nintendo would do). The DS really did take things in a new direction, and I've always associated the Game Boy with children and early-teens. The original DS's childish appearance (and possibly the child-associated legacy of Nintendo's name) slightly turned me off the thing. It wasn't until the Lite came out that I saw the ligh... um, sense ;-) It looks great, and coupled with the range of more adult/universal (*) games that had been released, it overcame my prejudices. DS is now more than a kids console, and using the Game Boy name again would be a step backwards.

Nintendo have stated that they don't intend using it again anyway.

(*) That's "adult" as in games adults of all ages would play- Kawashima, Big Brain, 42 All Time Classics (AKA Clubhouse games). Not as in "lots of soft porn to get 14 year olds' attention".

Re:A change is nice once in a while

[MeanderingMind]

I hate to break it to you, but it's too late. In some places, the term "Gameboy" is irreperably tied to the DS.

When I bought my DS while overseas in Japan, my japanese friends were impressed with my "Gameboy DS". I've seen my fair share of mothers referring to their child's DS as their "Gameboy", and also a number of store clerks called it the "New Gameboy" when it first appeared on shelves.

Maybe the next iteration will leave behind the name, but much like how many parents called the Sega Genesis the "Nintendo" we will continue to see most handhelds referred to as "Gameboy" for years yet.

GB finally laid to rest

[TruePoindexter]

Gonna be sad to see the GB name go but it's not like the idea behind Gameboy games is gone. Cheap, fun, portable, reliable - all principles the Gameboy pionered and the DS continues.

Re:GB finally laid to rest

[Malekin]

With games costing almost half the price of the console, I must say you have a strange definition of "cheap".

Its does not matter anymore

[grapeape]

Two years ago the Gameboy had a name recognition that the DS could only dream about. Fast Forward to now and the DS is projected to sell over 100 million in 2007 alone. It took 3 years for Nintendo to get to 75 million with the GBA&GBASP. Everyone who could possibly be interested in a handheld gaming system knows what a DS is.

It will still be sad for those of us who have been gameboy fans from the greyscale years to the GBA. I am curious about Iwata's comments when the DS launched that the DS was not a replacement for the Gameboy and that a new gameboy would come eventually, has that tech been scrapped or just rolled into the next version of the DS. Concidering the DS has backwards compatability his comments never made sense to me anyway, but he went out of his way at the time to say that the GBA was a separate product line. Perhaps it was simply so the GBASP would continue to sell?

let's protest!

[doubleofive]

Let's call our DSs "GameBoys" in protest! (I do anyway by mistake, but now I have an excuse)

you sure?

[neoshroom]

a part of my childhood just died.

are you sure the batteries just didn't run out?

Re:you sure?

[halcyon1234]

You are feeling sorry for the Gameboy.

That is because you are crazy.

Re:"greatest trademarks"?

[brkello]

Don't worry...they learned their lesson about naming their products silly things. As hard as people have tried...no one has been able to make fun of the "Wii".

Re:There comes a time...

[Dogtanian]

I think this is Nintendo's way of telling us Game Boy has made the change. (Probably at that party last weekend).

• You know your Game Boy's reached adolescence when you don't have to play with it- it plays with itself non-stop.
• Ah, that explains what was wrong with the sound. For some reason it had developed a very impressive bass, but a few minutes later it went high-pitched and squeaky. After alternating the two for a while, it settled onto the deeper sound, but now it makes very little noise and won't respond at all.
• Eewww, I thought the white ooze coming out was glue or something.

Okay, the first one was good, the other two were crap, and it'll only get worse, so I'll stop there. I'll be here all week, please tip your waitress, etc etc

Re:Weird...

[Shados]

Yup, when the DS came out, Nintendo was very specific that they did not intend to replace the Gameboy with it, and that they would be in parallel, with the DS being designed for more "original" games, and possibly target an older audience, while keeping the gameboy the traditional handheld.

However, quickly (especially after the DS light, but even at launch or almost), normal games that would normally have found themselves on gameboy ended up on the DS, and the DS ate up all the gameboy's market, on top of its own incredible one. Thus Nintendo changed their mind about keeping the gameboy around (they talked about it quite a while ago actually). In other words, the first company to "defeat" the GB, has been Nintendo. Kind of amusing.